a sound education to all of our children. The President's
Hispanic education initiative will offer Latino students a
better chance to develop their full academic potential so they
can contribute the full force of their talent to the success
of America in the Twenty-First Century."
-- Vice President Gore, February 2, 1998

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION

THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S
HISPANIC EDUCATION ACTION PLAN

Vice President Gore today (2/2) announced the Administration's
$600 million Hispanic education action plan. In his State of the
Union address, President Clinton reinforced his commitment to
excellence in education for all Americans. America cannot prosper as
a nation unless educational opportunity is made available to all of
our children. Today, about 14 percent of the school-age population is
Latino; by 2020, the proportion will grow to about 22 percent.
Hispanic students are among the nation's most educationally
disadvantaged. To address this educational disparity, the Clinton
Administration's FY99 Budget includes more than $600 million dollars
for a comprehensive action plan based on high standards and
research-based school reform:

I. $393 Million to Strengthen Basic Reading and Math Skills:
Students, including those with limited English skills, must be held to
challenging academic standards, with a firm foundation in reading and
math. President Clinton proposes to increase funding for Title I --
the largest elementary and secondary program -- by 5.3 percent -- a
$393 million increase -- to meet these critical needs for all
disadvantaged students. Thirty-two percent of those served are Latino.

II. $66 Million to Train 20,000 Teachers to Teach Students English,
and Help Adults Learn English: A 17 percent increase -- $33 million --
in the Federal program for children with limited English skills would
help train 20,000 teachers over five years to more effectively teach
English in the context of high academic standards. A $33 million
increase in adult education will provide more parents and other adults
with English training, including the first year of a five-year, $100
million effort to promote model approaches to adult English-as-a-Second
Language (ESL) programs.

III. $30 Million to Transform Schools with High Dropout Rates: The
President is calling for a 25% expansion of a new effort to reform
failing schools, specifically targeting schools with high-dropout
rates. This increase will allow low-achieving schools to receive
expert advice to adopt research-based models to improve teaching and
learning.

IV. $69 Million to Prepare Disadvantaged Youth for Success in
College: The federal TRIO programs fund outreach and support programs
to help disadvantaged students prepare for and successfully complete
college through counseling and academic assistance. One of the
programs -- Upward Bound, which helps high school students with
academic preparation for college -- has been found to be especially
helpful to Hispanic youth. The President has proposed a $40 million
(20 percent) increase in funding for Upward Bound. All other TRIO
programs will receive a total increase of $13 million. In addition,
the Federal program to strengthen colleges with large Latino
populations is slated for a $16 million -- 133 percent -- increase.

V. $60 Million to Improve Education Programs for Migrant Youth and
Adults: Migrant families face particularly difficult obstacles to
gaining the education and training they would need to improve their
standard of living. President Clinton seeks significant increases in
the Migrant Education Program (16 percent increase of $50 million),
High School Equivalency Program (HEP: 31 percent increase of $2.4
million), College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP: 138 percent
increase of $2.9 million) and Migrant Youth Job Training Demonstration
(a new $5 million).

###

OTHER CLINTON ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
TO IMPROVE EDUCATION FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS

The Hispanic Education Action Plan is the result of months of
consultation with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, education and
Latino organizations, and the White House Initiative on Educational
Excellence for Hispanic Americans. It is a response both to the
final report of the Hispanic Dropout Project, No More Excuses, and to
the earlier recommendations of the President's Advisory Commission on
Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, Our Nation on the
Fault Line.

As a result of these and other efforts, the Administration has not
only invested in programs that address the education needs of Hispanic
Americans, but has also taking a number of other actions to improve
Federal programs. Below is a sample of some of the current or planned
actions.

Getting Information to Parents and Students.

The Education Department is improving its toll-free line to
make it easier for Spanish-speaking callers to get the
information they need, and to expand the capacity to handle
large influxes of calls that could result from public service
announcements.

Univision, the country's largest Spanish language television
network, is partnering with the Department in several cities
with large Hispanic populations to develop TV spots and other
programming with education themes.

About 200,000 Spanish-language copies of the Education
Department document, Getting Ready for College Early, were
distributed by La Opinion -- the largest Spanish newspaper
in the U.S. La Opinion will also make the document
available on computer disk to other newspapers, as well as
on its web site.

Helping all Children to Read Independently by the End of the Third
Grade. The America Reads Challenge includes several efforts directly
targeted to Hispanic and limited-English students and their families.

The Read*Write*Now! Campaign which combats "summer reading
drop-off" through the use of reading partners for children,
the active use of libraries, and new vocabulary -- has developed
Spanish language tutoring kits that will be distributed to
Hispanic communities.

With the Education Department, Scholastic, Inc. created and
disseminated 50,000 posters conveying the message "Reading is
Power/Leer es Poder" to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month
for 1997. The poster includes reading activities in English
and Spanish that teachers and parents can reproduce for use
in the classroom and at home.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the
nation's largest constituency-based organization of Hispanics,
has committed to work with the Department to prepare its
110,000 members to tutor Hispanic students through the America
Reads Challenge.

Encouraging Parental Involvement in Early Childhood. For America's
working families, the President has proposed that $22 billion be
devoted over five years to improve child care -- the largest investment
in the nation's history. This will double the number of children
covered by child care subsidies, help working families pay for child
care through tax credits, and improve the safety and quality of child
care. To enable more young children to improve their readiness for
school, 1998 funding for Head Start was increased by $374 million for a
total of $4.4 billion. The Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) will implement an outreach plan to ensure that programs are
reaching the Hispanic community and that Head Start efforts are linking
effectively with kindergarten and first grade. As a part of that
effort, HHS will identify and disseminate a "best practices" guide for
serving limited-English children.

Promoting Successful Models for Dropout Prevention. School and
community leaders need "one-stop shopping" for ideas and information
on best practices for keeping kids in school. The Education Department
will provide thorough dropout prevention resources through its various
research centers. In addition, as part of the Comprehensive School
Reform program, the Department will identify model approaches that show
promise in reducing high dropout rates, and that address the needs of
limited-English proficient children, and will encourage states to use
FY98 funding to implement those models where needed.

Increasing Technology in the Classroom. To ensure that all schools
take advantage of the funding available through the $2 billion
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund and the E-rate discounts of up to
90 percent to connect to the Internet, the Education Department will
target technical assistance workshops to communities with large
populations of Hispanic students.

Providing Second Chances and Job Training Opportunities. $250
million has been appropriated for FY99, targeted to the highest poverty
areas in the country, to help out-of-school youth (age 16-24) become
employable. Currently six cities are funded. In New York City,
67 percent of those served are Hispanic; in Houston, 65 percent; in
Los Angeles, 50 percent.

Collecting Data and Supporting Research. The Department of
Education and the National Center for Educational Statistics will seek
to acquire more information to increase awareness of education issues
involving Hispanics and limited-English students. For example, to
ensure that limited-English students fully benefit from tests they are
given, the Department plans to invest approximately $5 million in 1998
research that addresses the most urgent questions relevant to
assessment of limited-English students.

Forming an Interdepartmental Council for Hispanic Education
Improvement. The Administration's initiative on education excellence
for Hispanic Americans will launch a new interdepartmental council for
Hispanic educational improvement this spring. Senior level
representatives from all Departments will participate in the council
and in working groups on early childhood, K through 12, undergraduate
and graduate education and community and federal employment to pursue
aggressive programs to improve educational opportunities for the
nation's Latino community.

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S FY 1999 BALANCED BUDGET
EDUCATION: PREPARING OUR CHILDREN FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

MAINTAINING THE COMMITMENT TO MAKING EDUCATION OUR NUMBER ONE
PRIORITY. Building on the historic balanced budget agreement in 1997
which secured the largest education investment in 30 years and the
largest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill in 1945,
the President's FY 1999 budget supports initiatives that will
dramatically strengthen elementary and secondary education. These
proposals will help ensure that all students start out in a small class
with a good teacher, in a safe, modern school. They will also help
ensure that students, especially in high poverty urban and rural areas,
attend schools where high standards are taken seriously and kids are
given the help they need to succeed. The President's proposals will
dramatically expand access to safe havens for after-school learning,
and ensure that low-income students receive the support and
encouragement to finish school and continue onto college.

Small Classes with Qualified Teachers to Improve Reading in Grades
1-3. President Clinton is proposing a $12.4 billion initiative over
7 years ($7.3 billion over 5 years) to help local schools provide small
classes with qualified teachers in the early grades. This will help
ensure that every child receives personal attention, learns to read
independently and gets a solid foundation for further learning. The
new initiative will reduce class size in grades 1-3 to a nationwide
average of 18, providing funds to help local school districts hire an
additional 100,000 well-prepared teachers. The initiative will also
provide funds to states and local school districts to test new teachers,
develop more rigorous teacher testing and certification requirements,
and train teachers in effective reading instruction practices. Schools
districts will be accountable for demonstrating gains in reading
achievement. These steps will help ensure that first through third
grade students are receiving high-quality reading instruction in
smaller classes from competent teachers.

Modern School Buildings to Improve Student Learning. In order for
students to learn and to compete in the global economy, schools must be
well-equipped and they must be able to accommodate smaller class sizes.
To address these and other critical needs, President Clinton is
proposing Federal tax credits to pay interest on nearly $22 billion in
bonds to build and renovate public schools. This is more than double
the assistance proposed last year, which covered half the interest on
an estimated $20 billion in bonds. The tax credits will cost the
Treasury $5 billion over 5 years, and more than $10 billion over ten
years. Of the $22 billion in bond authority, nearly $20 billion is for
a new School Modernization Bonds. Half of this bond authority will be
allocated to the 100 school districts with the largest number of
low-income children, and the other half will be allocated to the
States. In addition, the President is proposing a more than $2.4
billion expansion of the Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, school-business
partnerships that will include funding for school construction and
renovation.

Education Opportunity Zones: Helping Students in Poor Communities
Reach High Standards. This initiative will strengthen public schools
and help students master the basics where the need is the greatest: in
high poverty urban and rural communities where low expectations, too
many poorly prepared teachers, and overwhelmed school systems create
significant barriers to high achievement. The Education Department
will select approximately 50 high poverty urban and rural school
districts that agree to: (1) use high standards and tests of student
achievement to identify and provide help to students, teachers and
schools who need it; (2) prevent students from falling behind by
ensuring quality teaching, challenging curricula, and extended learning
time; and (3) end social promotion and turn around failing schools.
Added investments in these communities will accelerate their progress
and provide successful models of system-wide, standards-based reform
for the nation. The President's initiative will invest $200 million in
FY99, and $1.5 billion over 5 years, to raise achievement and share
lessons learned with school districts around the country.

Expanding Access to Safe After-School Care. To help create safe,
positive learning environments for American school-age children who
lack adult supervision during a typical week, the President has
proposed to increase the 21st Century Learning Center Program by $800
million over five years. The program will support school-community
partnerships that expand or establish programs providing after-school
care for up to half a million children a year.

Early Intervention to Promote College Attendance. President
Clinton will soon announce a long-term effort to bring college
opportunity to children in high-poverty areas by providing their
families with early information about financial aid and the best
courses to take to be well-prepared for college, as well as support
services to help the children stay on track through high school
graduation and into college.